The term "Indian
Classical Music" refers to two related, but distinct,
traditions rooted in antiquity. Both are very much alive in
India today. The North Indian style is known as
"Hindustani", while the South Indian tradition is referred
to as "Carnatic".
This page deals mainly with Hindustani Classical Music, about which I
know a little bit. While I also appreciate Carnatic
music, I do so as an outsider.

What is Hindustani Classical Music? Like any kind of music, it is hard
to say in a few words. But let me try, in case the reader is totally
unfamiliar with this music.

The basic scale of Hindustani music is similar to the western 12-note
scale. The main difference is that the Hindustani scale is not
tempered. Thus, the intervals between consecutive notes are not
equal. Indeed, they can be varied slightly to suit the particular raga
that is being performed. The same note, in different ragas, may have
slightly differing positions. The notes themselves have names as in
Western music, and here they are:

Hindustani:

Sa

Re

Ga

Ma

Pa

Dha

Ni

Western:

Do

Re

Mi

Fa

So

La

Si

These seven notes are like the white keys on a piano keyboard.
There are intervals between them: to be precise,
there are five intermediate notes. The one between Sa and Re is called
"Komal Re" (like Re flat), between Re and Ga is "Komal Ga" (like Mi
flat), between Pa and Dha is "Komal Dha" (like La flat), and between
Dha and Ni is "Komal Ni" (like Si flat). That accounts for four
notes. The fifth lies between Ma and Pa but it is called "Tivra Ma",
like Fa sharp.

The final result is shown here:

Sa

Komal
Re

Re

Komal Ga

Ga

Ma

Tivra
Ma

Pa

Komal Dha

Dha

Komal
Ni

Ni

The four notes marked "Komal" and the one marked "Tivra"
correspond to the black notes on a piano keyboard.

What, then, is a Raga? It is most simply described as a subset of
these notes, usually from five to eight notes, together with a set of
rules to combine them effectively and create a particular mood. Each
Raga has a name. It also has a character, which can be devotional,
erotic, bold and valorous, or tragic, to name some examples. And a
Raga usually comes with a time of day when it is best performed,
usually specified as a 3 hour interval (6 AM to 9 AM, 9 AM to noon,
etc.). Some Ragas are related to seasons, for example the Malhar ragas
are performed mainly in the monsoon season, and then they can be sung
at any time.

Given a Raga, there exist several compositions, more or less like
songs (with words), which obey the rules of that Raga and effectively
convey its mood. It is common for the words to assist in conveying the
mood. For example, monsoon-related Ragas will have compositions that
describe the gathering clouds, the falling raindrops, the lightning
and thunder, and the accompanying erotic mood (if you've never been to
India you may wonder about this one, but it is so). A vocal musician
will sing the notes of the raga in various combinations, then recite
the composition and perform variations on it, often switching to a
faster composition after some time. The whole thing can last an hour,
or even two, and it is never monotonous because different types of
variations are introduced at different stages. The success of the
performance depends on how effectively the musician builds
up the desired mood. Some Ragas are considered "light" in that they
have less richness of structure, and are performed for shorter
durations like 10-15 minutes.

That's more or less all I have to say about it here, but in practice
this music is too fantastic for words, and needs to be
experienced. For me personally, this music has gone a long way towards
opening up the sublime aspects of the world we live in.

I did give a slightly longer explanation about Hindustani music to an
audience of String Theorists, in a lecture at the Strings 2001
conference in Mumbai. You can hear that lecture and view the
accompanying transparencies by clicking here.

Below, you will find a link to the Kumar Gandharva Home Page.
This is the only original material about music on my website other
than the above.
After that, you will find a collection of links to
interesting pages on Indian Classical Music. This material has now
undergone revision and updating. It is not intended to be exhaustive -
I've only included the sites that I liked to some extent.

kumar gandharva
home page

The
Kumar Gandharva Home Page
My tribute to a great Hindustani
Classical musician, and the person I have most admired in my
life. This site includes an article that I wrote about Pandit Kumar
Gandharva, a photo gallery, the words to some of the bhajans that he
popularised, and much more.

non-commercial
links

Patrick
Moutal's Indian Music Page
Incredible wealth of information, and downloadable video, audio,
photos. What a delight. Monsieur Moutal has displayed a
dedication to Indian music
that is increasingly rare in our own country. (In passing, I hope that
those Indians who talk of "protecting our ancient culture from
foreign influences" will visit this site, and will then be so kind
as to drown themselves out of shame!)

ITC Sangeet Research Academy
Impressive website of the Sangeet Research Academy based in Kolkata.
Useful information about Ragas, downloadable clips,
and a nice diagram
(click on Samay Raga) showing which Ragas are sung at different
times of day and night.

Surdhwani
UK based group that organises Hindustani music concerts there and
maintains this rather attractive website.

Rajan Parrikar's articles
These are very scholarly and well-written articles, also copiously
illustrated with music clips. Mostly for the expert, I would say.

Satrangi Art Point
Site maintained by Meenakshi Bodas, which explains the concepts of Raga
in some detail.

medieval.com
A site on medieval music which has an introduction to Hindustani
music, along with lists of recommended records to listen to.

carnatic.com
Planned as the principal site for Carnatic music, this site
also features the Carnatic Webring through which you can access
many or most Carnatic music sites on the web.

A
Little Karnatic Music Web Corner An interesting site about
Karnatic (Carnatic? Karnatak?) music, maintained by my friend
M.V. Ramana. Features over 25 articles written by him, photos of great
musicians, and links.

Indian Classical Arts
A page maintained by N.S.Sundar. Mainly Carnatic music, with a primer,
information about the great composers, and a database. Features
some Hindustani music and Indian Classical dance, too.

Music India Online
Offers just about every kind of Indian music, both classical and
popular. You can listen to the music with Real Player.

Khazana Internet Indian arts store, with over 4700 CD's of
Indian music. I didn't actually count, but they do seem to have an
encyclopaedic collection, judging from the list of artistes by
name. You can find 21 CD's of Pandit Kumar Gandharva here,
which is enough to get my vote! (Note: these are not all different,
the Sangeet Sartaj and Baithak series are the same performances).
This seems to be one of the most
impressive commercial sites.

Music Today
Modestly billing itself as "The best online store for the finest
in Indian music", this is the music division of Living Media inc.
who are the publishers of the newsmagazine "India Today". They
publish a number of good CD's and you can buy them online.

Navras Records
Another good publisher of Indian classical music CD's.
While the collection is small, some of their products,
including one CD each by Kumar Gandharva and Mallikarjun Mansur,
are outstanding.

Neelam Audio and Video
A publisher of Indian classical CD's with a rather impressive
collection of artistes on its list. The catalogue strangely
divides vocalists into "male" and "female" with separate pages
for each category -- reminiscent of the segregated seating
arrangements at traditional social gatherings in India!

Oriental Records Inc.
Website and online store for a company founded by Rangasami
Parthasarathy. The Hindustani
selection features mostly instrumental music. Some very well-known
artistes featured in both the Hindustani and Carnatic sections.